Apparatus for operating upon composite substances.



v A. FAY. APPARATUS FOR OPERATING UPON COMPOSITE SUBSTANCES. APPLICATION FILED JUNE I6. 1916.

l ,1 9?, 1 14, PatenTedSept. 5, 1916.

(a Ill [III/1'1 ll ALPI-IEUS FAY, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

APPARATUS FOR OPERATING UPON COMPOSITE SUBSTANCES.

riatgiia Application filed June 16, 1916.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALPHEUS FAY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented a certain new and useful Apparatus for Operating Upon Composite Substances, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a novel method and means to operate upon a comparatively broad shallow body of a composite substance containing butter fat, with the vertical pressure, peripheral pressure and the peripheral surface of said body minimized; and the upper surface, the lower surface and the peripheral diameter of said body maximized to allow said body to partake freely of undulatory movement by rotatable members with their thickness and their peripheral surfaces minimized and their upper surfaces and lower surfaces and diameter maximized; with the peripheries of said members moving in close proximity with the inside walls of said vessel, the distance from the center to the periphery of said members being greater than the distance from the peripheries of the said members to the inside walls of said vessel; said members rotating said body in the same direction as said members but at a slow velocity compared with the velocity of said members, said vessel having its walls converged with a broad width and a shallow depth to allow the substance in the vessel to rise and fall freely to be acted upon to produce mechanical and chemical changes through its rates of vibrations in the substance, until the cream elements coincidently change into binomial quantities.

A further object of my invention is to simplify the construction of apparatus of the above character, thereby making it more economical of production; and also to make the apparatus readily disassembled for storage and shipping; and to make eachpart so that when it is detached from the other parts it will very readily be cleaned, so that the entire apparatus may be kept thoroughly sanitary in use.

My invention consists in the apparatus and the parts thereof, and in the details of construction and arrangement of such parts, will hereinafter be more fully described and claimed.

In the drawing Figure '1 is a sectional per- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 5, 1916.

Serial No. 104,071.

spective view of an apparatus embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a detail of part of the brake and the clip therefor; Fig. 3 is a detail of the ln-acket-holding clip; Fig. 4r is a frag mentary sectional view of the central part of the upper impeller member and lower part of the hollow shaft, showing how they fit together; Figs. 5 and 6 are similar views of the lower impeller member and solid shaft, showing how the pin holds them together; Fig. 7 is a detail of part of the fly wheel with the upper end of the solid shaft and the means for attaching the fly wheel to the shaft; and Fig. 8 is a detail of the pin that connects the fly wheel to the shaft.

The vessel 1 for containing milk elements to be operated upon is of wide and low formation providing an ample base, so that the vessel is readily secured in a substantial manner to a table or other supporting means. The wide and low formation of the vessel in addition to providing a firm foundation therefor, prevents the substance operated upon therein from becoming deep in proportion to its diameter. Keeping the depth of the substance shallow in propor' tion to its diameter is a very important feature in the satisfactory operation of my apparatus, and for that reason I make my vessel for containing a substance to be operated upon of a wide and low formation, namely, the diameter being greater than its depth. This is according to the method set forth and claimed in my co-pending applications, Serial No. M4 158, filed Jan. 25, 1913, Serial No. 829,982, filed April 6, 1914, and Serial No. 11,355, filed March 1, 1915.

The bracket 2 is mounted across the top of the vessel and secured to the rim thereof as will be more particularly described hereinafter. A shaft 3 is journaled horizontally in the bracket and has a crank 4c fixed on it outside of the bracket. This shaft has a bearing 3 next to the crank 4t, and over near the middle of the bracket has another bearing 3", and its end part has fixed on it next to the bearing 3 a bevel gear 5. The solid shaft 6 is mounted vertically and extends down into the vessel, having an upper bearing 7 and a lower bearing 8. The lower bearing 8 is in the middle of the main part of bracket 2, but the upper bearing 7 is on the top of an upwardly extending arm 7 which thevbracket 2 has on the side of the shaft 6 opposite from the bearing 3. A bevel pinion 9 is fixed on the solid shaft 6 the pinion;

The lower side of the hub of the fly wheel 10 has radial grooves 10, and the shaft 6 has an opening with a pin 11 passing trans versely through it, which pin has on one side a recess 11; When the pin is passed through the opening and lies within the grooves 10 of the fly wheel, and the fiy wheel bears downwardly upon the pin, the recess 11 will pass down. over the sides of the shaft adjacent to the opening therethrough, so that the ends of the recess engaging with the sides of the shaft will prevent the pin from sliding laterally out from its position in the shaft, while the engagement of the pin in the grooves of the fly wheel will cause the fly wheel to rotate with the shaft. Such a method of fastening the flywheel to the shaft is superior to the use of a set screw, because it does not interfere with the centering of the wheel on the shaft.

This construction is disclosed and claimedin my co-pencling application, Serial No. 11,352, filed March 1, 1915.

The shaft 6 extends down into the vessel 1 and carries an agitator in the form of plane polygonal members 12 and 13 above and below, respectively, the upper one, 12, having a hollow shaft 14 surrounding the shaft 6 and the lower one having a hub 15 clamped to said shaft. These agitator members will be more fully described hereinafter.

To properly cooperate with the agitator, brakes 16 are mounted in upright position against the opposite walls of the vessel 1. These brakes 16 are preferably of wood and each brake has a clip 17 with a horizontal part 18 extending out over the rim of the vessel and having lugs 19 clamping the upper end of the brake 16 in such a manner that a suitable fastening means 20 passing through the lugs and through the brake may hold the clip and the brake rigid with respect to each other. The horizontal part 18 terminates in an upwardlyconcave channel 21 within which engages a hook 22 which has a pivot 23 in the side of the vessel. This clip 18 and hook 22, thus applied to the brake 16, hold the brake up against the wall of the vessel by pressing the lower end of the brake firmly down on the bottom of the vessel and drawing the brake outward against the inner side of the vessel. The hooks are preferably bent so that they hook over the channel 21 in the direction opposite to that of the rotation of the agitators, so that the pressure of the liquid against the brakes tends to push the brakes toward the hooks and thus clamp the brakes more tightly.

The bracket 2 has a shank 2 1 that fits snugly in the socket 25 which is secured against the outside of the vessel and has a part 26 hooking over the rim of the vessel. Bolts 27 pass through the flanges of the socket 25 and through the vessel wall to hold the socket rigidly on the vessel. A set screw 28 passes through the side of the socket 25 against the shank 24 when the shank is in the socket and holds the bracket 2 down firmly in the socket 25 and holds said bracket 2 rigidly at this side of the vessel. The other end of the bracket 2, at the opposite side of the vessel, is simply straight, and a clip 29 is provided to receive this end of the bracket. As best shown in Fig. 3, this clip is made of a T-shaped blank with its lateral parts 30 bent up and its stem 31 bent down so that the stem 31 may be screwed to the outside of the vessel and the upper part with its members 30 extending upward, rests on the rim of the vessel. The straight end of the bracket 2 is brought down between the members 30 and is thus held against sidewise movement at this side of the vessel. These members 30 may have some resiliency and then merely grip the end part of the bracket as shown in Fig. 1. This end of the bracket 2 may extend outside the rim of the vessel as shown in Fig. 3, and then has, on its lower side, an eye 32, and a hook 33 is pivoted on the stem 28 outside of the vessel to hook into this eye and hold the end of the bracket firmly down in the clip 29.

To hold the entire apparatus rigidly on a table or other supporting object, an angle plate 31 is screwed to the side of the vessel, near its bottom, with one member extending out therefrom even with the lower edge of the vessel, so that a suitable clamp 35 may engage with this member and with the under side of the table or other object. The frictional engagement of the bottom of the vessel with the table top caused by this clamping, added to the weight of the apparatus, will prevent shifting of the apparatus when operated.

Immediately above the bottom 36 the wall of the vessel 1 has an opening provided with a lip 37 on the outside, through which opening liquids may be withdrawn from the vessel. A suitable stopper 38 forms a simple means for closing this opening.

Each of the agitator members 12 and 13 is composed of a square sheet of metal with its corners bent down or up as the case may be so that the completed member is octagonal with triangular sides 39 and 10, respectively, alternating with open sides 41 and 42, respectively. These members thus formed are inversely assembled and preferably, as shown, each member has two opposite diagonal sides outside the engaging diagonal side of the other member. This involves the forming of two opposite sides farther apart than the other two opposite sides on each member, but it permits the two members to be formed alike and simply rotated with respect to each other a qualter-revolution to have them come together as above noted. If all the sides of one member were made to engage outside all of the sides of the other member the two members could not be formed alike as regards these diagonal sides. In addition, the assembled agitator is made more symmetrical and is adapted to operate better upon the liquid due to its symmetrical formation.

The hollow shaft 14 is preferably made of a single rectangular plate bent into cylindrical form with its ends 43 abutting. The lower end of this hollow shaft, thus formed, fits snugly around a flange 44 extending up around a central opening in the upper agitator member 12. Thus, the open lower end of the shaft 14 communicates directly with the space between the two members 12 and 13.

As shown herein, the clamping means of the upper end of the shaft 14 is integral with said shaft. Narrow projections are left on the blank or plate from which the shaft is formed, so as to be diametrically opposite when the plate is made cylindrical, and these projections 45 are then bent radially inward toward each other and their terminal parts bent upward and spaced apart far enough to admit the shaft 6; preferably these parts are made concave to conform to the surface of the shaft 6. A collar 46 is then brought down around these parts, and a set screw 47 is screwed through the collar against one of the parts, clamping both parts tightly to the shaft 6.

The lower impeller member 13 has radial grooves 13 pressed in its lower side, and the lower end part of the solid shaft 6 has a transverse opening through which passes .a pin 48 that fits up into the groove when the member 13 is slipped down on the shaft. The pin thus holds the impeller up on the shaft and the ends of the groove prevent the pin 48 from sliding out of position. This lower holding means is disclosed and claimed in my co-pending application, Serial No. 69,885, filed Jan. 3, 1916.

Fig. 1 represents the impeller members adjusted to about the right height in the vessel, and the heavy dotted line indicates the right height of the liquid to be operated upon.

The use of the plane impeller members 12 and 13, depending, for centrifugal action on the surrounding liquid, entirely upon the frictional contact of said liquid with the plane surfaces of the members and upon the slight angular engagement of the diagonal sides 39 and 40 with the adjacent liquid,

marks a distinct departure in the art of constructing and operating apparatus to act cen-trifugally upon fluids. With the hollow shaft 28 thus provided, if the impeller is rotated it acts centrifugally and centripetally upon the liquid, making contact with the upper and lower surfaces of its upper and lower members, forcing the liquid radially outward between the two member-sand above them and below them while the periphery will present a substantially V-shaped formation. Vith the liquid thus impelled outwardly, areas of reduced pressure will be created in the central regions of the impeller, and air will be drawn down through the hollow shaft between the impellers. With the impellers thus formed and operated, the vibrations or undulations in the liquid around the periphery will be somewhat of a serpentine formation.

For separating butter from either sweet or sour cream, the'liquid is placed in the vessel to about the height of the heavy dotted line, with the impeller about midway of the depth of the liquid as shown. It is important that the depth of the liquid above the impeller disk be not too great; otherwise the entrance of the air under atmospheric pressure will be hindered. It is also important that the distance between the impeller and the bottom of the vessel be not too great, because any considerable quantity of liquid too far below the impeller will not be affected by the aeration and other forces acting upon it, and will not have the butter separated from it, but will merely serve as a collecting place for the butter separated from the upper liquid. ()n the other hand it is highly desirable that the impeller disk be of considerable diameter in order to obtain the greatest amount of centrifugal and centripetal action without impact and to operate on as large a quantity of liquid as is desired. For this reason the proper disposition of the body of liquid will be such that its width is considerably greater than its depth, as illustrated in the drawing, and it is for this reason that the vessel is made wide and low so that it is possible for all the forces applied to the liquid to act upon it in a uniform manner.

The milk elements should not have their temperature too low or too high, about or Fahrenheit being the preferred temperature. Such temperature is high enough to allow the operation to be performed quickly, and it is not so high as to cause the resulting butter granules to be too soft.

With this method butter may be produced within from three to ten minutes. Perceptible accumulation of butter will practically all take place during the last 15 or 60 seconds of the operation. The butter will form in granules, and then the residue may be drawn off from the vessel and the granules &

salted by agitation and aeration of brine with the granules in the vessel. lVhen the salting operation is completed, the butter granules may be removed from the brine in the vessel, or the brine may be withdrawn from the butter granules, and the granules then removed from the vessel, after which the granules are worked or pressed into consistency for use. The efficiency of operation is such that fully 90% of the butter fat of the cream is removed, and butter of purity of over 99% is obtainable, of firm texture and natural flavor.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a device of the character described, in combination with a vessel and a bracket, a bracket holding clip composed of a single piece of metal initially of T-shape but with the lateral members of the T bent up and with the stem of the T bent down, the remaining horizontal part being adapted to rest on the upper edge of the vessel and the stem to bear against one side of the wall of the vessel, said bracket being received between the bent-up lateral members of the cli 2 In a device of the character described, in combination with a vessel and a bracket, a bracket holding clip composed of a single piece of metal initially of T shape but with the lateral members of the T bent up and with the stem of the T bent down, the remaining horizontal part being adapted to a rest on the upper edge of the vessel and the stem to bear against one side of the wall of the vessel, said bracket being received between the bent-up lateral members of the clip and having a part'extending past them, and a hook, pivoted on the bent-down stem of the clip, engaging with said extending part of the bracket and holding the bracket down in said clip.

3. In a device of the character described, in combination with a vessel and a bracket, a bracket holding clip composed of a single piece of metal initially of T-shape but with the lateral members of the T bent up and with the stem of the T bent down, the remaining horizontal part being adapted to rest on the upper edge of the vessel and the stem to bear against one side of the wall of the vessel, said bracket being received be- Copies of this patent may be obtained for tween the bent-up lateral members of the clip and having a part extending past them, an eye on the part extending past the bentup members, and a hook, pivoted on the bent-down stem of the clip, engaging in this eye and holding the bracket down in said cli 4 5. In a device of the character described, in combination with a vessel, a clip on the edge of the vessel, a bracket bearing in said clip, an eye on said bracket, and a hook pivoted on said clip and engaging with the eye to hold the bracket in said clip.

5. I11 a device of the character described, in combination with a vessel and a brake to be held upright therein adjacent to the inner wall thereof, a clip rigidly secured to the upper end of said brake extending over the upper edge. of the vessel and having an upwardly concave channel outside the edge of the vessel, and a hook pivoted on the outside of the vessel and engaging in said channel.

6. In a device of the class described a vessel, an impeller, a vertical shaft on which the impeller is mounted for rotation, a bracket across the top of the vessel, a bearing for said vertical shaft near the middle of the bracket, a horizontal shaft, a bearing for said horizontal shaft near the middle of the bracket at one side of the bearing for the vertical shaft, a bevel pinion fixed on the vertical shaft above its bearing, a bevel gear fixed on the horizontal shaft between its bearing and the vertical shaft and meshing with the bevel pinion, an arm extending up from said bracket on the side of the vertical shaft and having wings extending out across the face of said bevel gear opposite from the bearing of the horizontal shaft, another bearing near the upper end of this arm for the vertical shaft, above the pinion but below the periphery of the bevel gear, said vertical shaft having a part projecting above said bearing, and a fly wheel with a hub fixed on this part of the vertical shaft for rotation therewith, said hub extending down alongside the bevel gear, and the fly wheel extending out over the bevel gear.

ALPHEUS FAY.

Witnesses CLARENCE PERDnw, EDITH LOICHINGER.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

